Method of Planning Train Movement Using a Three Step Optimization Engine

1. A method of scheduling the use of a plurality of resources in a rail network in a first-time space domain having predetermined constraints, comprising: (a) transforming the network resources scheduling problem to a second domain by relaxing some of the predetermined constraints; (b) measuring the historical performance of the scheduled network resources; (c) performing a sensitivity analysis of the measured historical performance to identify the relative importance of a variable affecting the performance; and (d) solving the scheduling problem as a function of the identified relative importance; and (e) transforming the solved transformed network resources scheduling problem back to the first time-space domain.

2. The method of scheduling of claim 1 , wherein the second domain is one of a cost domain and a time domain.

3. A method of scheduling the use of a plurality of resources in a rail network in a first domain having a set of predetermined constraints, comprising: (a) transforming the network resources scheduling problem to a plurality of domains by relaxing the set of predetermined constraints; (b) for each of the plurality of domains: (i) measuring the historical performance of the scheduled network resources; (ii) performing a sensitivity analysis of the measured historical performance to determine the relative importance of a variable affecting the performance; (iii) identifying the most important variables using a predetermined criteria; (c) selecting the domain having the fewest number of identified important variables; (d) solving the transformed network resources problem in the selected domain; and (e) transforming the solved transformed network resources scheduling problem back to the first domain.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of measuring the historical performance of network resources includes resources located within a rail yard.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of measuring the historical performance of network resources include resources located on industry lead tracks extending form a rail yard to an industry customer premise.

6. A system for scheduling the use of a plurality of resources in a rail network in a first time-space domain having a predetermined set of constraints, comprising: a database containing measurements of a historical performance of scheduled network resources; a processor programmed to: (i) transform the network resources scheduling problem to a second domain by relaxing the predetermined set of constraints; (ii) access the database to perform a sensitivity analysis of the measured historical performance to identify the relative importance of a variable affecting the performance; (iii) solve the scheduling problem as a function of the identified relative importance; (iv) transform the solved transformed network resources scheduling problem back to the first time-space domain.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second domain is one of a cost domain and a time domain.